February 15, 2023

Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

Biden Picks Fed Official to Lead National Economic Council.

Lael Brainard, the Fed’s vice chair, will become a top economic adviser along with Jared Bernstein, who will head the Council of Economic Advisers. (NY Times).

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President Biden did not submit to a pre-Super Bowl interview. Traditionally, the president grants an interview to the network carrying the Super Bowl, to be aired during the pre-game show. This year, that would have meant an interview with Fox News; the White House decided against it. Brief efforts to set up an alternative interview with Fox Soul, a sister channel aimed at Black audiences, were eventually scrapped as well. (Wake up to Politics).

Yesterday’s confirmation in the Senate made Judge Gina Méndez-Miró the first LGBTQ+ district court judge in Puerto Rico. Mendez-Miro is married to Maite Oronoz Rodriguez, who serves as Chief Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.

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Updates on the future, coming to America soon. Thank you, Joe.

EV Battery News.

From the DealBook NY Times.

“Peter Carlsson, the C.E.O. of Sweden’s Northvolt, told Bloomberg that the “really, really big” subsidies offered by the Inflation Reduction Act are forcing it to consider postponing construction of a German factory in favor of a move across the Atlantic.”

“Ford will build an electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan.”

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A Valentine’s catch up.

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Pence is no Gerald Ford. He is no Patriot.

Pence to fight special counsel subpoena on Trump's 2020 election denial.

Mike Pence is preparing to resist a grand jury subpoena for testimony about former President Donald Trump’s push to overturn the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the former vice president’s thinking.

Pence’s decision to challenge Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request has little to do with executive privilege, the people said. Rather, Pence is set to argue that his former role as president of the Senate — therefore a member of the legislative branch — shields him from certain Justice Department demands.

Pence allies say he is covered by the constitutional provision that protects congressional officials from legal proceedings related to their work — language known as the “speech or debate” clause. The clause, Pence allies say, legally binds federal prosecutors from compelling Pence to testify about the central components of Smith’s investigation. If Pence testifies, they say, it could jeopardize the separation of powers that the Constitution seeks to safeguard.

“He thinks that the ‘speech or debate’ clause is a core protection for Article I, for the legislature,” said one of the two people familiar with Pence’s thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss his legal strategy. “He feels it really goes to the heart of some separation of powers issues. He feels duty-bound to maintain that protection, even if it means litigating it.”

A ‘first time’ argument.

Roy Brownell, former counsel to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and author of a prominent paper on vice presidential privilege, said that if Pence ultimately asserts “speech or debate” protections, it will be “the first time it’s ever been clearly expressed that the vice president is claiming his own constitutional privilege.”

Even when Dick Cheney sought to expand the powers of the vice presidency to a historically unprecedented degree — triggering numerous court battles — he never formally invoked the protection, Brownell noted.

Brownell also emphasized that court rulings have found that “speech or debate” protection applies to congressional officials performing “fact-finding” related to their jobs. Pence, he said, could characterize his pre-Jan. 6 conversations with Trump and others as research into how he might rule on matters related to the Electoral College.

It’s still unresolved whether the Jan. 6 session of Congress legally counts as “legislative” business, however. In addition, even if courts deem Pence’s role a legislative one, judges would still have to decide whether the “speech or debate” clause protects him from having to testify about his conversations with Trump world about the bid to upend the election.

“It’s a fair question,” said Stan Brand, who was general counsel of the House of Representatives under former Speaker Tip O’Neill. “Procedurally, it creates another layer of potential judicial adjudication and that will certainly complicate the effort to enforce the subpoena.”

While Pence aides say he’s taking this position to defend a separation of powers principle, it will allow him to avoid being seen as cooperating with a probe that is politically damaging to Trump, who remains the leading figure in the Republican Party. Pence is preparing to launch a presidential campaign against his onetime boss. (Politico).

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Putin Aggression is spreading, trying to block EU growth, says Maldova’s President.

Russia is planning coup in Moldova, says President Maia Sandu.

Russia wants to stage a coup d’état in Moldova, the country’s President Maia Sandu said Monday.

Sandu called for heightened security measures in Moldova after the pro-EU government resigned last week, following months of pressure from Moscow which is waging an all-out war on neighboring Ukraine.

“The plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and taking hostages,” Sandu told reporters at a press conference Monday.

She added that citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia would be among those entering Moldova to try to spark protests in an attempt to “change the legitimate government to an illegitimate government, controlled by the Russian Federation to stop the EU integration process.”

Moldova was granted candidate status to the European Union last June, together with Ukraine.

Sandu’s remarks come after she nominated a new prime minister on Friday to keep her country on a pro-EU trajectory after the previous government fell earlier in the day. (Politico).

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The shooting at Michigan State. We are all sick of this.

3 dead, 5 hospitalized.

Biden urges gun law reform after MSU shooting
 By Meryl Kornfield
.

President Biden said Congress should ramp up gun law reform after the Michigan State University shooting that killed three students and injured five.


“The fact that this shooting took place the night before this country marks five years since the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, should cause every American to exclaim ‘enough’ and demand that Congress take action,” Biden said in a statement.


Biden also renewed the call he made for an assault weapons ban during his State of the Union speech last week, adding that Congress should reform background checks, safe storage laws and legal protections for gun manufacturers.

Biden signed a law last year that includes the most significant firearms restrictions enacted by Congress in decades.
“Action is what we owe to those grieving today in Michigan and across America,” he said. (Washington Post).

Touch 👇 to watch Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-MI 107).

Touch 👇 to watch a Sandy Hook survivor who is now a student at Michigan State.

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Scary Update from Virginia.

Another state wants to be Florida? Another Republican Governor wants to be DeSantis?

L. Louise Lucas is President Pro Tempore of the Senate of Virginia.

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she will not seek reelection in 2024.



Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced Tuesday she would not seek reelection in 2024, putting to rest uncertainty over whether she would seek a sixth full term as the oldest sitting senator.


The Post’s Amy B Wang reports that Feinstein, 89, said she would instead focus on accomplishing “as much for California as I can through the end of next year” when her term ends.

She noted that she had campaigned in 2018 on preventing and combating wildfires, responding to the homelessness crisis and protecting access to affordable, high-quality health care. Per Amy:
“Congress has enacted legislation on all of these topics over the past several years, but more needs to be done — and I will continue these efforts,” Feinstein said in a statement.


“Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives. Each of us was sent here to solve problems,” she added. “That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years.”


You can read the full story here. (Washington Post).

One more thing from the Post. The race for Feinstein’s seat is likely to be a competitive and expensive one. The most recent Federal Election Commission reports show Schiff had $20.6 million in available campaign funds. Porter had $7.7 million in cash on hand and Lee had $54,940.

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Theatre news about the UK. Some affecting Broadway. Some good. Some bad. Your choice.

Box-office revenue in the West End has increased by 11.6% compared with 2019, according to first full data since Covid. (Source. The Stage).

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Aggressive audience behaviour forces U.K. musicals to tone down marketing.

Marketing for popular musicals is to be tempered to avoid phrases such as "best party in town" and "dancing in the aisles" in a bid to tackle poor audience behaviour.

Ambassador Theatre Group, the largest theatre operator in the UK, is working with producers to tone down marketing that might encourage bad behaviour, following a growing number of incidents in which shows had to be stopped by rowdy audiences, with reports of staff being abused.

The move comes after the Edinburgh Playhouse last week issued a statementabout poor audience behaviour, with theatre director Colin Marr revealing staff members had been punched, pushed and spat on in recent weeks, warning that offenders will be banned from returning to the theatre.

He told The Stage that in five years leading the theatre, audience behaviour was the worst he had known it and that ATG was working with producers across the group to temper marketing for shows at which audiences might behave badly. 

"We are working on it as a group, and one of the main things we are trying to do is around messaging and working closely with producers. We are talking to them about marketing. So, when we market shows let’s not have phrases such as: ‘best party in town’ or ‘dancing in the aisles’ – the show has something much stronger than that to sell," Marr said.

He added this was being rolled out across ATG venues, and said some marketing sends the message it is acceptable to sing along. (.The Stage).

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UK Ambassador Theatre Group Merges With Jordan Roth's Jujamcyn Theaters.

Ambassador Theatre Group, which is a force on London’s West End, and Jujamcyn Theaters, a collection of Broadway theaters owned by impresario Jordan Roth, have agreed to combine operations.  Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, according to a release, though those details were also left vague.

Roth, who has become almost as well known for his fashion sense and social media presence as for his day job as a theater mogul, a will sit on the board as the largest individual shareholder of the combined group. He will also serve as its creative director. Mark Cornell, who currently heads up Ambassador Theatre Group, will serve as CEO of the combined companies. (Variety).

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Celebrating a date we cannot know to honor a great man.

On February 14, America observes the birthday of the iconic Frederick Douglass. While the year of his birth has been narrowed down to two possible candidates, the actual month and day Douglass was born are still unknown.

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Can we get an invitation for our friend Clare Coss, the playwright who has been thinking/writing about the murder of Emmett Till since it occurred in 1955?

Clare’s newest work on the terrible murder.

President Biden and first lady to host 'Till' screening at White House.

President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden will host a screening of the acclaimed film “Till” Thursday evening at the White House inside the East Room. 

The film focuses on the real-life story of Mamie Till-Mobley and her fight for justice after the murder of her 14-year old-son Emmett Till in Money,

Though “Till” did not receive any Oscar nominations, to the chagrin of many, it is being celebrated by the Biden administration.

Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in and produced the film, told theGrio in a statement that it  “seems fitting that the President, who made sure the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act finally got signed into Law, [would] have the film screened at the White House.” (The Grio).

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